So a Muslim and Catholic walk down the street ...

Yusuf Mosque 186 Chestnut Hill Ave, Brighton, MA

So last night I was walking down my street and I passed the mosque in my backyard right as their evening prayer was letting out.  Considering it is in my backyard and I overhear the salat prayers several times a day through my kitchen window, I decided it was as good a time as any to greet the neighbors.  I said good evening to a truly sweet guy named Ra'ed whose chin beard and hat would definitely get a raised eyebrow in an airport these days.  We started having a very warm conversation in the cool evening on the sidewalk and then he took me inside the mosque and I was amazed by how normal it was.  In a mosque there is a seat in the easternmost corner used on Fridays, but really it is a big living room.

First Seven Verses of the Qur'an

The prayers the community do, can be done anywhere and that was something that impressed me about Islam.  They're kinda the Protestants of world religions.  They have a book, which is the most sacred thing to them.


There is no tabernacle, no holy of holies, nor altars in a mosque.  It's all about the word.  The absence of any sacramentality in Islam, brings perhaps an even greater emphasis on the word than Protestantism, which still has Baptism and some form of Communion.  The emphasis on the word and lack of any definitive school of interpretation (like the Magisterium in Catholicism) is unfortunately the source of many problems within Islamic communities, but despite the very real and debatable violent implementation of these texts, this is a conversation about the aesthetics and commonality that I found yesterday night with Islam.

The positive results of this emphasis on the word is a lot of beautiful writing (Arabic calligraphy is dizzingly beautiful) and because the word Qur'an means 'recitation,' also a lot of beautiful singing (which is also dizzingly beautiful).  Arabic culture generally has a rich tradition of poetry and storytelling due to its attention to the words people live by as one can see in  1,001 Arabian Nights, Khalil Gibran (The Prophet), the Sufis (especially Rumi) and even C. S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy.  I should say, the Qur'anic influence can sometimes get a bit repetitive to the point where it seem that every Middle Eastern story is about some guy showing up to bestow a lot of proverbs and wisdom, but whatever.

Umm, "non-representational" calligraphy?

It was a really refreshing conversation, where both Ra'ed and I had our working definitions of 'Muslim' and 'Christian' stretched.  We were talking and Ra'ed was speaking about the reverence paid to Jesus (Isa) and Mary (Mariam) in Islam.  He said that while Allah rebuked Mohammed for sinning, the Qur'an is very clear that Jesus did not sin and that Jesus was taken up into Heaven and will come at the end of time as Mess'ah (that'd be Messiah people) to enact Allah's judgment.  He also said that Mary is the True Lady (Sayyida) and that she must be highly respected by all Muslims.  He told me how they believe in what we Catholics call the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth.  While he was saying that Jesus is a very holy prophet and whenever his name is pronounced, Muslims follow it with an epithet such as Jesus, blessed be God, or Jesus, blessed be his name and right around here I stopped him and said, "Ra'ed, what you are saying about Jesus and Mary; it's hard to get some Christians to admit this stuff." And he replied, "Oh, well they'd make terrible Muslims then."

As we kept chatting, we both realized that we are two guys trying to be men of prayer.  Do I see a lot of problems with Islamic interpretations of Jesus that echo seemingly all the christological heresies of the Early Church?  Yes.  Is that the most important thing? No.  Today we're very focused on results and details and many of us may think we'd feel more comfortable with a bunch of secular humanists than with a house full of Muslims who are trying to pray to the same God as us.  Sincerely sharing our faith and supporting each other in the struggles to pray, is of first importance.  If we really cultivate a community of prayer and support, having a proper christology and theology will follows, but until then our working definitions of 'Christian' and 'Muslim' will be too small.

Ra'ed gave me a translation of the Qur'an and said that they pray the first seven verses several times a day.  I looked them over and so far, no heresy, and so I would gladly pray them with Ra'ed and thought I'd share them with you.  Open a Qur'an or looking at Muslim prayers as a Catholic can be a bit odd, but I think we don't trust ourselves, nor the Holy Spirit.  We think if we start reading we'll have the wool pulled over our eyes and in a state of hypnosis, we'll convert.  This fear keeps people like Ra'ed and I from ever talking, much less talking about prayer, which is so important today.  If I would just translate the Seven Verses with something like Thy Grace or the Lord, Christians would have no inkling that this is prayed every day by Muslims.

In addition, here's a Mass of Mozarabic chant.  The Mozararbic Rite is a part of the Catholic Church that comes from Spain and Portugal and carried the aesthetic sense of Arabic chant into its liturgy and gives you a sense of Arabic/Muslim/Moorish culture even though it's Christian and in Latin.  Even though the words are Latin, the quivering and lilting in the chant and reminds me of the shape of the cursive script of Arabic.  Mozarabic chant, which I discovered first via the Antiochian Orthodox Church, is maybe my favorite form of vocal music.  There is a paradoxical sense of ominous atmosphere and salvific joy in the words that moves me when ever I hear it.  Enjoy.


In the name of God,
   Most Gracious,
   Most Merciful.
Praise be to God,
   the Cherisher
   and Sustainer
   of all the world.
Most Gracious,
   Most Merciful;
Master of the
   Day of Judgment.
You do we worship
and your aid we seek.
Show us the straight way.
   The way of those
   on whom You
   have bestowed Your Grace,
those whose portion is not wrath
and who do not go astray.

Amen.

For some interesting scattered info on the relationship between Islam and Christianity, check out Gabriel Said Reynold's article, Reading the Quran Through the Bible , from First Things.  Also Peter Kreeft's book Between Allah and Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims is a great conversation between several Christians and a very astute Muslim set at Boston College.  And if you have a free evening you're looking to fill, there is a debate/conversation between Robert Spencer and Peter Kreeft entitled Good Muslim/Bad Muslim that is a lively and fruitful introduction to the problems in contemporary culture between Secular people, Christians and Muslims.